Tulip Blue Wow, Just Wow!

May 07, 2015 / Tim Dijkstra

We're in the middle of creating tulip history with this new variety Tulip Blue Wow! Not only does Blue Wow feature a rare blue hue (we've heard it said that Blue Wow comes closest to blue as possible for a tulip) but its in a completely new breeding class of tulip variety. Its actually so new that it hasn't been named yet. Read on and take a look then let us know what you would call this extraordinary type of tulip!

First, some background on what it actually takes to create a new tulip variety. It's quite a large undertaking which requires lots of patience. Breeders cross one variety with favorable characteristics (such as multiple petals) with another variety with another set of favorable characteristics (such as a blue/purple hue). The seeds from the crossing are collected and bulbs are grown from them. These bulbs can take up to five years to produce the first flower. From there, assuming that the breeder has had the good fortune to produce a variety with the best characteristics of its parent stock, it can be up to another five years before the grower can grow enough stock to be able to sell the bulbs to the public. So as you can, creating a new tulip variety is not a quick process!

In horticulture, there are 16 different classifications of tulips (with Blue Wow, soon to be 16!). They are Single Early, Double Early, Triumph, Darwin Hybrid, Single Late, Lily Flowered, Fringed, Viridiflora, Rembrandt, Parrot, Double Late, Kaufmanniana, Fosteriana, Greigii, Species and Multiflowering. Out of all the different classifications, Blue Wow fits the closest into the Double Late varieties, but if you take a look below at some typical double late tulips, you'll see why we think that Blue Wow won't be in that classification group for long!

There are also 3 other new tulips with similar characteristics that will likely join Blue Wow in the new classification: Tulip Brooklyn, Tulip Fruitcocktail and Tulip Ice Cream. All share the same extremely large and heavy and almost spherical flower heads with multiple petals and the characteristically unique green petals that extend down the stem. Our current favorite possible name for them is the Artichoke Tulip.

Blue Wow bulbs are still on the pricey end for tulip bulbs at $8.75 for 5 bulbs, compared to $4.25 for 5 Double Tulip Angelique bulbs, but not without reason. Blue Wow bulbs are still quite rare, hard to get, and expensive to produce since its a newly propagated variety. Its going to take at least a few years in order to be able to develop a large amount of stock. Until then, the honors will go to a lucky number of people who will be the first to enjoy Blue Wow in their garden!